CHAPTER 3 — THE ROOM BEHIND THE CELLAR
CHAPTER 3 — THE ROOM BEHIND THE CELLAR
The clock struck midnight.
Claire stood on one side of Dominic's study.
Dominic stood on the other.
Between them lay seventeen years of secrets.
"My name isn't Claire Bennett," she repeated.
Dominic's jaw tightened.
"I know."
Claire's eyes flickered.
"You know?"
"I know about Evelyn Marlowe."
Her face went pale.
"And Isabella Vale."
This time, Claire didn't breathe.
Dominic watched the reaction.
"You have used at least three names."
Claire slowly sat down.
"Then you already know too much."
"No."
Dominic placed the three passports on the desk.
"I know almost nothing."
He pushed them toward her.
"So tell me."
Claire stared at the documents.
For several seconds, she remained silent.
Then she whispered:
"My real name is Evelyn Marlowe."
Dominic shook his head.
"That's not the whole truth."
"No."
"Then what is?"
Claire looked toward the window.
"I was born Isabella Vale."
Dominic froze.
The name struck him harder than any bullet could have.
"Vale?"
Claire nodded.
"My father was Adrian Vale."
Dominic stared at her.
Adrian Vale had been the man who founded the organization Dominic now controlled.
The man Dominic had been told died before Dominic was old enough to remember him.
The man Nathan had claimed was killed by Vincent Marlowe.
"You are saying you're Adrian Vale's daughter?"
"Yes."
"That's impossible."
"I know."
"Your father died."
"That's what everyone was told."
Dominic stood.
"Where is he?"
Claire looked at him.
"Dead."
"When?"
"Seventeen years ago."
"How?"
Claire's eyes filled with tears.
"Because of Nathan."
The room became silent.
Dominic didn't speak.
Claire continued.
"Nathan didn't just betray you."
She looked at the cellar door.
"He betrayed your entire family."
Before Dominic could respond, a faint metallic sound came from downstairs.
Click.
He turned.
"What was that?"
Claire stood.
"I don't know."
Another sound.
Click.
Then a low mechanical rumble traveled through the walls.
Dominic reached for his gun.
"Stay here."
Claire followed him.
"No."
He looked at her.
"Claire."
"You don't understand."
"What?"
"The cellar."
They hurried down the stairs.
The house was silent.
Too silent.
When they reached the western corridor, Dominic stopped.
The cellar door stood open.
He had locked it.
Now it was slightly ajar.
Claire stared at it.
"Someone is inside."
Dominic raised his gun.
He pushed the door open.
The cellar was empty.
The wine racks remained untouched.
The broken rope where Mia had been held still lay on the floor.
Dominic scanned the walls.
"There's nothing here."
Claire shook her head.
"Wait."
She walked toward the back wall.
There was a large wooden wine rack.
Claire placed her hand against the frame.
Then pressed one particular bottle.
Nothing happened.
She pressed another.
A hidden mechanism clicked.
Dominic stepped backward.
The entire wine rack moved.
Stone scraped against stone.
Behind it was a narrow passage.
Dominic stared.
"How did you know that?"
Claire didn't answer.
"How?"
"I've been here before."
Dominic's gun rose slightly.
"When?"
"Before I met you."
"With Nathan?"
Claire hesitated.
"Yes."
Dominic's expression darkened.
She stepped into the passage.
"He brought me here."
"Why?"
"To show me what your family had hidden."
Dominic followed.
The passage was narrow and cold.
Old pipes ran along the ceiling.
The walls were covered in dust.
At the end stood a steel door.
There was no handle.
Only a keypad.
Claire stopped.
Dominic looked at her.
"You know the code."
"I know part of it."
"What part?"
"Elena's birthday."
Dominic entered the date.
The keypad flashed red.
"Wrong."
Claire closed her eyes.
Then whispered:
"Not Elena's birthday."
"What?"
"Her death."
Dominic entered the date Elena died.
The keypad flashed green.
The lock released.
The door opened.
A smell of old paper and dust drifted toward them.
Dominic stepped inside.
Then stopped.
The room was enormous.
Shelves covered every wall.
Boxes filled the floor.
Photographs hung from strings across the ceiling.
Documents were stacked on tables.
And on the center wall was a large black-and-white photograph of Adrian Vale.
Dominic's father.
Below it were three names.
ADRIAN VALE
ELENA MARLOWE
NATHAN CROSS
Dominic stared.
"Why are their names together?"
Claire whispered:
"Because they were."
He turned.
"What does that mean?"
"Your father trusted Nathan."
"I know."
"No."
Claire shook her head.
"Your father loved him like a brother."
Dominic looked at the photograph again.
"And Elena?"
"Elena knew what Nathan was doing."
"What was he doing?"
Claire walked toward a table.
She opened an old folder.
Inside were bank statements.
Payments.
Transfers.
Names of shell companies.
Dominic recognized several.
"They were moving money."
Claire nodded.
"Your father discovered it."
"Who?"
"Everyone."
Dominic looked through the pages.
Nathan had been stealing from Adrian's organization for years.
But there was more.
Nathan wasn't stealing alone.
A second signature appeared on every major transfer.
V. MARLOWE.
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
"Vincent."
"Yes."
"Your father was working with my enemy?"
Claire shook her head.
"Vincent was working against your father."
She pulled out another document.
"This is the original agreement."
Dominic read it.
Nathan had been selling information to Vincent.
In exchange, Vincent promised him control of the Vale organization after Adrian's death.
Dominic's hands tightened around the paper.
"So Nathan killed my father."
"Yes."
"And blamed Vincent."
"Yes."
"Then what happened to Elena?"
Claire looked down.
"She found the records."
Dominic stared at her.
"And Nathan killed her too."
Claire nodded.
"He made it look like Vincent's men had done it."
Dominic's breathing became heavier.
For seventeen years, he had believed his father's death was the result of an old war.
For seventeen years, he had believed Elena was simply another victim.
Now the truth was sitting in front of him.
Nathan had built his entire life on their graves.
Dominic opened another box.
Inside were photographs.
He picked up the first.
It showed Adrian standing beside a young Nathan.
The second showed Adrian holding Dominic as a child.
The third showed Elena.
But the fourth made Dominic stop.
It showed Elena holding a baby.
A newborn girl.
The date was written beneath it.
October 14.
Dominic looked at Claire.
"Who is this?"
Claire didn't answer.
He turned the photograph over.
On the back was a handwritten note.
If anything happens to me, protect my daughter.
Dominic's eyes widened.
"Your daughter?"
Claire nodded.
"Elena was my mother."
Dominic stared.
"Then you and Elena—"
"She was my mother."
His voice dropped.
"She was your mother?"
"Yes."
Dominic stepped backward.
"Why didn't anyone tell me?"
"Because Nathan couldn't know I survived."
"Survived what?"
"The fire."
Dominic remembered.
The fire had supposedly killed Elena and her infant daughter.
The official report stated that no child had survived.
He looked at Claire.
"You were the baby."
Claire nodded.
"Yes."
Dominic couldn't speak.
She continued.
"Nathan ordered the fire."
"Why?"
"Because Elena was going to expose him."
"How did you survive?"
"A servant found me."
"Who?"
"Mia."
Dominic froze.
"Mia?"
Claire nodded.
"She was there that night."
The woman Dominic had trusted for years had been carrying one of the greatest secrets of his life.
Suddenly, a noise came from the corridor.
Footsteps.
Dominic turned.
He raised his gun.
"Who's there?"
No answer.
He moved toward the door.
Claire whispered:
"Don't."
Dominic looked back.
"Why?"
"Because if it's Nathan, he'll know we found this room."
Dominic listened.
The footsteps stopped.
Then a voice came through the darkness.
"Dom?"
Nathan.
Dominic's blood ran cold.
Nathan appeared at the end of the passage.
He looked calm.
Almost amused.
"You shouldn't have come down here."
Dominic aimed his gun.
"You knew about this room."
Nathan smiled.
"I built it."
Claire stepped forward.
"You lied to him."
Nathan looked at her.
"You lied first."
Dominic's voice was cold.
"How long?"
Nathan sighed.
"Seventeen years."
"You killed my father."
"Yes."
The answer came so easily that Dominic almost didn't understand it.
"And Elena?"
Nathan's smile disappeared.
"She knew too much."
"You killed her."
"Yes."
Dominic's hand tightened around the gun.
"Why didn't you kill me?"
Nathan laughed softly.
"Because you were useful."
Dominic stared.
"You made me believe you saved me."
"I did save you."
"You destroyed my family."
"I gave you an empire."
"You stole it."
Nathan's eyes hardened.
"It was always going to be mine."
Claire stepped between them.
"You're finished."
Nathan looked at her.
"No."
He pulled a small remote from his pocket.
Dominic's expression changed.
"What is that?"
Nathan pressed a button.
A red light began flashing inside the room.
Claire's face went white.
"No."
Dominic looked at her.
"What?"
"Explosives."
Nathan smiled.
"You wanted the truth."
He stepped backward.
"Now you can die with it."
The red light began flashing faster.
Dominic grabbed Claire's hand.
"Run!"
They raced down the passage.
Behind them came a deafening explosion.
The hidden room erupted.
Dust filled the corridor.
Shelves collapsed.
Photographs burned.
Dominic dragged Claire toward the cellar.
The ceiling cracked.
Stone rained down around them.
They reached the wine cellar seconds before part of the passage collapsed.
Dominic pulled Claire against him.
The explosion ended.
Silence returned.
Claire coughed.
Dominic looked at her.
"Are you hurt?"
She shook her head.
Then she looked toward the destroyed passage.
"The evidence..."
"Some of it survived."
Dominic reached into his coat.
He pulled out the photograph of Elena holding the baby.
Claire stared at it.
"You saved it."
"Yes."
She touched the photograph.
Tears rolled down her face.
Dominic looked at her.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Claire couldn't answer.
"Why did you let me believe you were someone else?"
"Because I was afraid."
"Of Nathan?"
"Of everyone."
Dominic's voice softened.
"Are you still afraid?"
Claire looked toward the smoke.
Then back at him.
"No."
"Why?"
She wiped her tears.
"Because now you know."
Dominic looked at the photograph again.
His entire past had been built on lies.
His father.
His first wife.
Nathan.
Claire.
Even his own inheritance.
But one thing was suddenly clear.
The war wasn't over.
Nathan had escaped.
And he had just destroyed the room containing seventeen years of evidence.
Or so Dominic thought.
Because beneath the floor, untouched by the explosion, a small metal box had remained sealed.
Inside it was a single cassette tape.
And written on its label were five words:
NATHAN TOLD ME EVERYTHING.
Underneath was another name.
ELENA.
Dominic didn't know it yet.
But the tape contained the one confession Nathan could never erase.
And whoever found it first would control the truth.
Outside the mansion, an engine roared to life.
Nathan was escaping.
But he wasn't alone.
Someone was sitting in the passenger seat.
A woman.
Dominic's security cameras caught her face for exactly two seconds.
Then the screen went black.
It was Claire.
Or rather—
May you like
the woman everyone believed Claire had been.
And Dominic had not yet discovered that the photograph in his hand was only the beginning of the lie.
